Really, the whole story is between me and a pair of blue, three-year-old eyes. The world around does exist, of course, and the world around is watching, with curiosity, but not really participating.
‘Spider’, I say.
‘Spiderman’, he says.
‘Spider’, I repeat, pointing at the spider flashcard.
‘Spiderman’, he repeats, as if not noticing.
‘Spider’, I say, yet again.
‘Spiderman’, he says and, I’d swear, he nods, too.
***************
The blue eyes belong to a little Sasha who is quite young, true, but who feels empowered and a lot more confident than any other typical three-year-old might have been in any relatively new environment. It is because this little Sasha never walks alone, he has his older sister as the source of his superpower. He is pretty much fearless. That is why he gets into this, well, debate.
The conditions are perfect. It is a warm May afternoon, the summer is round the corner, and the audience are waiting for some entertainment. After all, the parents have come to see what the kids can do and what the teacher is teaching them. Everyone is present, all the children and all the parents. The teacher is there and even the trainee teacher. Who could have wished for more?
Sasha is not doing it on purpose. One of the most important words in his life now is ‘Spiderman‘ and it does resemble something that the teacher is saying. It feels like a cool game to recite it, together with the teacher, well, almost ‘recite’ it. Sasha continues to play.
He doesn’t see how the world freezes waiting for any reaction. He notices that his teacher’s face has become a bit tense but he does not think that it might have anything to do with the new game. He wouldn’t know that the teacher’s blood pressure is slowly going up because of what is happening and what is happening is this: a student making a mistake and the teacher not correcting him, fossilising the error for the years to come and this little boy confusing the little eight-legged creature with a superhero.
It might be that the parents have not even noticed or realised. It might be that the parents have found it to be funny, too. In the teacher’s head, however, the world is crumbling and the teacher is failing, despite all her experience.
Ideally, the teacher would have just waved two flashcards to illustrate the difference. Only, of course, there were no Spiderman flashcards just lying around.
***********
‘Now, Sasha, spider – Spiderman’, I say. Again.
‘Spiderman’, he says, smiling, probably thinking that I have finally managed to learn the right word. I smile, too.
‘Sasha, listen. Spiderman is a boy. Yes or no?’, I say.
‘Yes’, says Sasha.
‘Mhm. And Spiderman is big or small?’ I ask.
‘Big’, said Sasha, looking at the teacher with curiosity.
‘Right’, I say. And then I ask, raising the spider flashcard. ‘Is THIS big?’
‘No’, said Sasha.
‘Is it a boy?’ goes the next question.
Sasha looks up from the flashcard, he looks at the teacher and smiles.
‘No’, he says, and you, know
‘No’, said Sasha and, you know, the teacher would swear, something sparks up in Sasha’s three-year-old eyes.
‘Exactly. Look. Spider – Spiderman’, I say, once again pointing at the spider flashcard, also adding gestures ‘small’ and ‘big’ ..
‘Spider’, says Sasha, pointing at the flashcard. And then he adds: ‘Spiderman’
***********
Victory? Probably. A memorable moment? Absolutely.
In hindsight, also a bit of revelation that a little adrenaline rush and, all of a sudden, it turns out that it is possible to use CCQs, concept check questions, with very young pre-schoolers who are somewhere in the pre-A1 level. I had never thought it would be possible but, hey, there you go. When there’s a will, there is a way? Aka the games my brain likes to play.
Happy teaching!